


Hobbies

by Macey360



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, How Do I Tag, M/M, first fic sorry, klance, oh and there's some swearing, will probably include angst in the future
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 07:25:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8788936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macey360/pseuds/Macey360
Summary: When an old Altean instrument is found lying around the castle, Keith claims it instantly. The discovery leads Lance to question more about him as the Paladins learn about each other outside of Voltron.





	

“KeithKeithKeithKeithKeithKeith…. Keiiiiittthh!”  
“Lance would you shut the fuck up I'm doing something.”  
Lance let out an annoyed sigh; collapsing back in his chair dramatically, shooting a pout back at Keith, who had no obligations to pay any attention to his over-exaggerated ass. He groaned again as he heard yet another screeching attempt at a Smoke On The Water riff.   
  
The five of them usually just lounged around the castle’s common rooms and in the kitchen on most days, when they weren’t forced through vigorous training and endless times forming Voltron, of course. Sometimes there was laughter and long warm conversations of Earth and home life heard echoing through the empty halls and then other times there was a full on debate about whether aliens really did visit their ancient human ancestors or if it truly was just a conspiracy. You could almost still hear Pidges voice ringing from the eardrums as they proclaimed from their perch on the lounge back “We found Blue in the desert! On Earth!” In the end, Allura had to search the log of any exploration dates to Earth just to stop the bickering. This was neither one of those days off.  
  
It was their off chance at a relaxing day -which didn’t get the chance to arise very often, mind you- and the beautiful peace of all was broken by what Lance could only describe as ‘Keith’s taste in music.’ Keith had been fiddling with some sort of old Altean instrument for hours now. Coran had dusted it out from one of the many spare rooms of the castle and he was so quick to claim it that Coran had almost no time to deny him. It was a fairly pretty string-type instrument decorated with intricate patterns and colours, pearled cream and blotched with an assortment of marbled colours much like the inside of an oyster shell. Its shape similar the many string instruments on earth; a long neck and strings from one length to the other. It was very light, despite being made from a solid material resembling some type of crystal. It was almost guaranteed to sound like the heavens angels singing just by its form and design… that is until he had started to pluck at it.

  
Pidge was the first to flee after a whole whopping two minutes of tuning as picking up their gear and made their way out the kitchen much faster and rather abruptly than usual. After the first fifty repeats of some emo band's song chorus, everyone else had quickly lost interest and fled to the other side of the castle in an attempt to escape quietly and politely- but that didn’t stop Keith. With no signs of giving up yet, he continued to strum as best he could to the foreign instrument in his hands despite his clear frustration at every broken note. He didn’t even know how to hold it yet (like a violin?) but he had settled with what felt most comfortable to him- a guitar. The thing was thousands of years old and he told himself that was probably why his tuning was off and that was how he couldn’t seem to get it right. He was starting to wish Coran could have given him some sort of introduction but he was so excited to play that he had run off muttering something of a thank you as he dashed back to the kitchen to show everyone.

  
Lance looked over at Keith, feeling a tad sceptical about following through the mission he had been assigned ~~forced~~ to. To tell the truth, the only reason Lance had come back was because he was opted to be the one to tell Keith to cool it for a bit- most of the encouragement to do so from Pidge; their super-human-like hearing claiming to hear dying cats from all the way in the lab despite the massive scale of the castle. He didn’t see why he should be the one to tell him, it wasn't like they got along or anything? Like at all? But Pidge had insisted, shouting “bonding and stuff. Go! Go! GO! McClain!” as they pushed him on out the door before locking it behind him. Lance thought he heard cackling from behind the door too.

  
He stood up, heading to the fridge and wincing at a particularly sharp note squealing at his eardrums. Why did Coran have to give him that thing… Taking a bottle of some unidentified juice in a glass jar that Coran had concocted, he unscrewed the lid absentmindedly. “Hey, man you really need to take a break from that thing for today, Pidge is having an overload from half a mile away.” Keith huffed a little in response, fiddling again at the string tuning.

  
Lance studied him again. This was unusual Keith Behaviour™ He looked to genuinely enjoy something besides knocking Lance’s ass to the ground in a match and/or teasing him over some petty thing. He felt bad at that moment, after all, the only other thing he had ever seen him this determinately interested in was his hours and hours of training practice. He remembered seeing him there in the middle of the night, learning dodges and attacks using his bayard when he was on the way to the bathroom. He thought that maybe Keith was a bit homesick that night -after all, he had done the same countless times when he couldn’t sleep- but Lance was clearly not the person he would want to talk it through with so despite might having something in common for once, he let him be- Keith quietly ignoring the sleepy boy lingering in the doorway. Lance wasn’t sure how to approach that situation. He had decided he didn’t know Keith well enough for pep talks and he wondered if he ever would. He only knew him as a rival at this point and after all, they were opposites. Red and blue were on two separate ends of the colour spectrum. But despite this, they were teammates now and they had to try harder to know each other... right?

  
Taking a sip of the green juice in his hand, he instantly spits it out the onto the floor, realising the mistake he had made. “Ew, man. Clean that up before Coran has a fit.” Keith mumbled, retaining his concentration. “Awh man, that tasted like armpits and bitter eggs.” he sighed, reaching down to wipe it up. “Coran’s juice and cooking are starting to taste more and more like an old witches brew.” Keith flashed a little grin. “He’s like one of those health food maniacs back on Earth except whatever that green goop is, does my body the opposite of any good.”

  
Lance leant down to sponge up the liquid before it stained anything. Getting up to see Keith completely captivated by this new hobby, suddenly realising that every one of the other paladins had something else of interest in their free time except Keith, until now that is.

  
Pidge would often tap away at their computer- in collaboration with Hunk on robotics projects which often lead to playing pranks on Lance; including making him think one particular room of the castle, was haunted.

  
Hunk had a few spare hobbies besides his enjoyment from pranks: he often cooked delicious meals for the paladins by using some indigenous plants around the area and lead him to enjoy botany to some extent, using the castle’s technology to help determine which flora were safe to eat and which will turn the entire team into zombies.

  
Lance himself thoroughly enjoyed to dance- when he wasn’t either trying to flirt his way to every single alien’s heart that he met or fighting with Keith- which was clear to everyone in the vicinity as it wasn't unusual to see him dancing through the corridors and shaking rolling his hips to music that didn’t play. It was also the norm to hear Altean music from the hall as Lance moved to find the right dance steps and routines of some of his favourites from the castle data banks.

  
Shiro and Allura were often found paired together at the bridge, tracking the Galra for any next moves. Other than that, Shiro was M.I.A, exploring surrounding areas in his lion, in which Keith seemed oddly anxious about, despite Shiro’s obvious combat skills if he ran into trouble. Nobody really knew what Shiro was up to in those hours but sometimes he came back with supplies, so one could only assume he was out on supply trades.

  
Coran never really seemed to stop working… or even rest at that. He was always clearing out parts of the castle or fixing something that had gone whack over a long time without maintenance. Lance was pretty sure Alteans were super-human. Now that he had thought about it, those two and Shiro never stopped or relaxed... Maybe Keith wasn't the only one that needed a hobby.

  
Keith strummed again, sounding slightly better than when Lance had left before with the others. His fingers moved across the strings with a certain expertise that didn’t quite belong to that particular type of instrument, the way he handled it and cradled it to the way he plucked and strummed at its strings was familiar. Without noticing, Keith had stopped and curled his fingers into a fist, rolling his wrist and clasping the air.

  
“Are you just going to stand there and stare at me all day?” he said without turning his head back to look at him. “You play the guitar, don't you!” Lance exclaimed, his eyes wide in some revelation had dawned on him. Keith turned to him then, an eyebrow shot up and a dumb look on his face as if he was surprised that Lance had only just noticed. Before Keith had any chance at a response, Lance continued.

  
“So, like, instead of being totally angsty music trash,” He started, working his way back to sit on his chair, arms smugly behind his head. “You were off jammin’ with an angsty band of your own!” Lance snickered at his own torment. Keith paused, remembering the time when an old white and black acoustic guitar sat at the end of his bed, a yellow pluck tangled in the strings of its neck. The memory wasn't that old, but it seemed distant from him… it was something he hadn't thought about a for a long time.

  
“To answer your question: yes, I do play the guitar.” looking down at the replaced instrument in his hands, he sighed “but I haven’t really played in a while.” that last bit tinged him with a bit of regret. He never had a band like Lance suspected, but he used to love to play. All through his younger teens, he had scattered memories of skipping school to practice and play solo gigs instead of working for a better grade, which made a lot of people angry with him, teachers and parents mostly but he rarely listened to them. It had been a few years since then, and he knew he was bad but he couldn't tell if it was because he was rusty or the fact that this wasn’t an actual guitar.

  
“Okay, so, second question: what was the name of this band?”  
“What.”  
“Oh, it had to be something edgy,,, like uh Spider Coven.”  
“Lance I never had a- Wait, is. Is that a Hussle Cat reference..?”  
“....”  
“I have to say, I’m surprised you like dating games, Kogane.”  
“Says you, Lance, ‘the universe’s (supposed) playboy’ McClain.” he scowled. “And I didn’t have a band I just played solo.” Keith laid the instrument flat on the kitchen bench, finally deciding he was done for the day. Lifting himself from his seat he stretched his arms up above his head, then to both sides his shirt hitching up ever so slightly, muttering something that Lance couldn’t quite hear.   
“So... not Spider Coven then-”  
“ **Lance!** ”  
“Okay, okay!”

  
Lance grinned brightly. Teasing was fun. He watched him silently trot around the room trying to stretch his muscles out of their stiff ceases from hours worth of playing. He started bending back on himself to form an arch with his body that he saw many people attempt back in middle school. His back bent almost impossibly as he grabbed his ankles like some acrobat at a circus. He looked like a dancer. Flexibility was one of Keith’s best strengths in battle, Lance had noticed from the many times they faced off in the duelling room, dodging his attacks like a bendy piece of spaghetti. The fact the Keith was shorter and faster than him coupled with this as he could duck under Lance’s punches like lightning. Lance also had his own set of strengths in combat. He was a lot stronger than Keith and had a high amount of muscle control and stamina given to him from years of dance practice and ballet.

  
He thought about afternoon practices as a kid. Ballet, hip hop and then contemporary, about two hours twice a week after school. He remembered his older sister being there for only a short while before she had quit. He remembered tight buns, aching feet, the backs of people's heads, bright lights, the young pianist named Lucy, and the old dance teachers, all three of them. The first was Annie, the old hag of a Ballet teacher who made Lance be at the back of the group and loved only perfection and discipline. The second was Angus, the contemporary teacher who was gentle and taught fluidity and expression. He was sure Keith would have liked him. The third was Bethany, the hip hop teacher, a young girl whose passion was in control and stamina. Bethany was Lance’s favourite dance teacher and who he took the most inspiration from.

  
Dancing was his distraction, his hobby. It was what he lent his full attention to, for if only a little while. He had to wonder if playing the guitar was the same for Keith, a long time ago. After a while, Lance had become lost in thought, so much so that he hadn’t noticed Keith had stopped stretching to turn and look at him. He felt embarrassed, suspecting he was asked something that he didn’t hear “hm?”

  
Keith let out a long sigh, walking over to him at the bench, slowly levelling his head to Lance’s, whose eyes followed him intensely.  
“I said, are you just going to sit there and stare at me like that all day?”  
Almost instantly, his face turned bright red, he could feel a blush creep up his cheeks right to his ears, so in quick logic, he got up and headed towards the door to hide his face. Keith didn't mean anything by the statement but he loved how Lance had reacted and he laughed a bit to himself when he left in an embarrassed heap.

  
A few seconds later Lance popped his head around the corner with an iconic shit-eating grin. “Oh, and I share my regards from Pidge. I’m sure they give their thanks for sparing their eardrums, Graves.”  
“I’m going to kill you, Lance!”  
With a yelp, he shot off down the hall giggling manically, Keith only closely tailing him with a hidden grin on his face.  
“You’ll never catch me, chicken legs!” Lance’s voice echoed through the castle.

  
From somewhere off in the castle Pidge shot up from behind their screen “what are those idiots doing now?”


End file.
